


Who Needs a Ring When You Have a Halo?

by FishingforCrows



Series: Our New Life on Our Side [7]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Crowley's kinda mean to Aziraphale in this, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Miscommunication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 12:16:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19723501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FishingforCrows/pseuds/FishingforCrows
Summary: Anathema is happy to announce her engagement to Newt. She asks the Ineffable Partners what they think of marriage and Aziraphale has some strong opinions. Now Crowley is acting unusually cold to him and he can't seem to understand why.





	Who Needs a Ring When You Have a Halo?

“Congratulations!” Aziraphale cheered, almost falling out of his seat as he bounced with excitement. Anathema was holding up her right hand to show him the black sapphire ring on her finger. Her cheeks were just slightly rosy in a bashful way and she smiled. She waved her hand as if to tell him not to make such a fuss. The two of them, along with Crowley, were seated around her kitchen table having tea. She’d invited them over to break the news.

“Newt finally got up the nerve?” Crowley asked with a laugh and a grin. “Good for him,” He took the witch’s hand and held it away from his face, examining the ring. He nodded in approval of the stylish, modern design.

“Well, kind of,” Anathema said with the expression someone only holds when they are about to break into a funny but convoluted story. “You see, I was having a bit of a... Crisis,” she began to explain.

“It’s been three years since I gave up on Agnes’s Prophecies, and my writing career hasn’t exactly taken off, and then my mother was putting all this pressure on me to move back to the states,” She spoke in her typical, fast, matter-of-fact manner. “I was panicking over what I should be doing with my life. So, I started to look for answers. And between the tarot cards and the scrying and the ... I’m not proud of this... _Ouija board_ , everything was pointing to a major life change involving family. I interpreted it as telling me to go back home. That night I started ranting to Newt about the results I got and how I didn’t want to go home and he’s just looking at me with that... adorably surprised, confused look he gets. Then, before I knew it, he was down on one knee. He didn’t have the ring yet because he had planned to pick it up the next morning. He just looked me in the eye and said _‘I should have known the universe would tell you before I did, it’s the hazard of dating a witch’_ and... that was that,” She took a breath, as though in the rush to tell her story she hadn’t remembered to do so in between words.

Crowley snorted with laughter and Aziraphale bit his lip to keep from doing the same. “That seems like the perfect proposal for you two. Very fitting,” The angel said judiciously.

“So,” A conspiratorial smile broke out on her face and she leaned forward, eyebrows raised. “When are you two going to follow our lead? I’m eagerly awaiting my invite to my first supernatural wedding. Should be something to tell the descendants about,”

This time it was Aziraphale’s turn to burst out with laughter. “You mean get married? Us?” He asked in disbelief. Crowley had looked like he was about to say something, but the angel just assumed he was also going to comment on how ridiculous the idea was. “An angel and a demon getting married? Why on earth why would we do that?”

Anathema seemed taken aback at Aziraphale’s reaction. She sat back up in her seat and took a sip of her tea. “Well, you two are together now, and you have known each other for so long, I assumed you might want to make it official,” She replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Official?” Aziraphale scoffed. “Under who’s authority? We don’t exactly need the legal benefits considering we both served offices that far outrank any human government. And I doubt any religion would marry an angel to a demon. Even if they would, Crowley can’t go on consecrated ground,” He nudged the demon with his elbow attempting to get him in on the joke. “Can you imagine? You hopping down the aisle of a church like that debacle with the Nazi spies? Except this time, you’re in a tux and you’re calling out ‘I do!’,” When Aziraphale looked over at Crowley he realized the demon was not laughing, or even smiling for that matter. His expression was cold and vacant.

“Hilarious,” He said dryly. A few moments of silence passed as Aziraphale tried to figure out why neither one of them was laughing. Anathema cleared her throat awkwardly. He wondered if he had done something wrong, and if he had, why no one was telling him what it was.

“Ah, so, Newt and I are trying to decide where to have the ceremony,” She said, changing the subject. “We wanted to have it at the airbase, for its significance, but we couldn’t get the clearance,”

“Well a little demonic hand-waving and I could probably convince them to give it to you,” Crowley replied, readily jumping on to this new train of conversation. He was back to speaking in his normal, casual demeanor, but the angel could still tell something was bothering him by the way he refused to look at Aziraphale for the rest of the time they were there.

They finished their tea and wished Anathema good luck with her wedding planning before they left. As soon as the door closed behind them, Crowley walked so quickly past Aziraphale that it almost caused the angel to stumble. He got into the car, slamming the door, without a single word. Aziraphale frowned, getting into the car cautiously.

“Dea-,” Before he could even finish the word, the music was booming out of the car stereo. Crowley floored the gas pedal so hard it knocked Aziraphale back against the seat. This behavior was starting to scare him. He had never seen his demon quite this angry with him; or at least, not angry in this way. Usually when Crowley was angry he would snap, yell and rant about it, gesticulating wildly. It was his usual dramatic flair multiplied by ten. This was different, though, Crowley was quiet, stiff, ignoring him. This change of character made Aziraphale so profoundly uncomfortable. This was worsened by the fact he hadn’t the foggiest idea what he’d done to get this reaction.

Lost in his own thoughts, the Bentley was screeching up to the curb in front of his bookshop before he knew it. “Your stop,” Crowley said callously, still looking straight out the front window.

“Oh… aren’t you… going to come inside?” Aziraphale asked dejectedly. He feared that if he let the demon go now, he might never know what was wrong. “We could watch a movie or go to the park or-,”

“Don’t feel like it,” Crowley interrupted him, harshness creeping into his voice. He was gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles went white. It frightened Aziraphale, seeing Crowley so furious with him. It felt like a level of anger from the demon that he had never seen before. He knew he tested Crowley’s limits sometimes, frustrated him with his stubbornness and with his previous rejections; but he had never managed to make Crowley so angry that he refused to talk to him.

“A-alright then,” Not knowing what else to do Aziraphale simply opened the door and got out. He’d barely closed it again when the Bentley ripped away from the curb and shot down the street. Aziraphale stood there, watching it speed away with a mournful sigh. He didn’t know what to do with himself now. The heaviness in his heart seemed to weigh down his whole body and prevent him from moving from that spot on the pavement. He felt a tickle at the corners of his eyes and a tightness at the back of his throat. Physical bodies were so terribly reactive to emotions. He wondered how one was supposed to do anything when they were this sad except fall down and cry. How fitting that the old black car vaguely resembled a hearse, since he felt as though he had just killed his relationship and now what remained of it was being driven away.

A loud squeal of rubber on road yanked him from his introspection. His head snapped up and what he saw simultaneously filled him with bewilderment and relief. Racing down the road towards him at full speed was his second chance. Crowley had flipped a U-turn and was flying towards him so fast that a fan of sparks spat out from under his tires when he finally slammed on the brakes.

“YOU’RE AN IDIOT!” Crowley was shrieking like a banshee as he jumped out of the car, slamming the door forcefully behind him and storming up to Aziraphale. The angel’s heart was beating incredibly fast, he knew he had to seize this opportunity to make things right.

“I am-,” He tried to agree but Crowley was mid tirade and was not about to let him get a word in edgewise.

“How could you say something like that?! Without even bothering to think I might feel differently than you! Are you really so fucking oblivious, so absolutely _feather-brained_ , that you just assume how I feel?! Hmm?! Tell me, angel dearest, does it get hard to breathe with your head lodged that far up your own arse?!” The demon was practically frothing at the mouth with fury, completely making a scene. People began slowing down to watch the row, craning their necks to see this grown man throw a fit in the street. “And the worst part,” Crowley seethed, getting even louder as he let all his frustration out. “YOU DON’T EVEN FUCKING KNOW WHY I’M MAD, DO YOU?”

Crowley’s chest heaved with heavy breaths, his face was bright red, his posture tense with rage. Aziraphale stared into the dark circles of glass in front of his eyes, watching as tears began to pour down his reflection’s cheeks. He opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was a choked sob. A pitiful, squeaking sound that caused Crowley to flinch and bare his teeth defensively. “N-no… I really don’t…” He sniveled, shaking his head, forcing the words to come out. “Whatever I said… If I had known it would hurt you like this… I wouldn’t have dared. I-I’m so, _so_ sorry Crowley. Really. I’m just… I really am an idiot! A blasted _idiot_!” He dissolved into a mess of sobs. The guilt of having put Crowley in so much obvious pain destroyed him, he wasn’t even able to be coherent anymore. The demon’s shoulders fell slightly and he looked pained and conflicted as he watched the angel weep. Not quite done being angry, apparently, he turned suddenly on the crowd that was watching them.

“Don’t you people have anything better to do?!” He roared at the on-lookers in his fiercest voice, causing several people to physically jump back. “Move along! Get a life! Show’s over!” He hissed before grabbing Aziraphale roughly by the coat and dragging him into the safety of the bookshop. Inside, he led the angel to a chair and let him fall very unceremoniously into it. He leaned against the wall opposite him, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration. He seemed to be trying, unsuccessfully, to calm down but his body language still very visibly read as outraged.

There was silence between them, occasionally broken by soft, stuttering hiccups as Aziraphale tried to compose himself.

“Yo-You just- You’re just so…” Crowley sputtered, seemingly trying to find the words. “You always see things as so black and white. You see them as so obvious. You’d think by now you’d have realized things aren’t always just what they are on paper, but apparently not,” He sighed heavily, crossing his arms over his chest in a protective gesture, his yellow eyes downcast.

“What… what am I not seeing?” Aziraphale asked in a weak and cautious voice, not wanting to reignite the demon’s temper.

“Marriage!” Crowley huffed out, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “You see it as just either a legal contract or religious ceremony. Do you really think those are the only reasons people get married? For Satan’s sake Aziraphale, you can literally _sense love_ in the air and the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of marriage is _tax benefits_?!”

Finally, Aziraphale began to realize what he had done wrong. He still didn’t entirely understand why his opinion on marriage had set Crowley off like that, but he could see how he was shortsighted now. “But… why would you get married without those things? I mean, yes obviously you should love the person you married. But if it weren’t for the religious significance or the legal benefit, well you just wouldn’t need to do it. There wouldn’t be a point. You could just live as a couple forever and love each other without those things,” He explained his thought process, thinking that it was fairly reasonable. “You don’t need a marriage to love someone, but you do need to love someone to have a marriage,”

“The _point_ ,” Crowley snapped at him, hurt underlying his tone. “Is to show the world your love. To announce to the world that you love each other no matter what. To celebrate it in front of everyone you care about,”

“Don’t we do that every day?” It seemed like Crowley had been about to keep speaking but Aziraphale jumped in. “Our love is literally a celebration in itself,” He said earnestly, getting to his feet and walking towards Crowley. “Us simply existing together celebrates a love so powerful it helped stop the end of the world,” He reached out and put his hands on Crowley’s arms. The demon looked away. “We are parading our love around in the face of heaven, hell, and everyone else, regardless of what they have to say! The fact we dared to be together when everything we know has told us not to makes a very loud statement on its own. I mean… we’ve risked everything for each other hundreds of times, over thousands of years, and we’re still doing it every day we choose to be together,” His voice was brimming with love, and even pride, as he spoke. He truly was proud, of what they had and what they did. Their love, to him, was an ongoing act of bravery and defiance that was only made worth it by the fact that they had each other no matter what. “What more can a little piece of paper and a walk down an aisle give us? What will that bring us that we haven’t already won through hellfire and holy water?” He asked with a breathless laugh, his face glowing with hopeless adoration. “What more do we have to prove?”

Crowley stared at him with something like awe. His slit pupils were widened to thick ellipses and his cheeks had a soft pink flush to them. “Well… When you put it that way,” He murmured in a soft, breathless voice. Then, without warning, he pulled Aziraphale into a kiss, gripping him by his lapels. He kissed him passionately, deeply. The wave of relief that came over the angel was so intense that it made his knees buckle. His weight shifted forward, pushing Crowley against the wall for support. Everything felt right with the world once again. He was holding the love of his life in his arms again and there was understanding between them once more.

When Crowley eventually pulled away, he rested his forehead against the angel’s, keeping him close. “You have a good point,” He told him with a gentle sigh. “But… I still just think it would be nice,”

“A wedding?” Aziraphale asked, nuzzling his nose against his love’s.

“Yeah,” Crowley replied with a soft chuckle. “We gave up everything because we loved humanity and their flaws and their personalities and their customs… this is one of those customs that makes earth so great. That desire to celebrate love and joy and everything and anything just to remember why life’s worth living,” He explained, resting his arms over Aziraphale’s shoulders and looking him in the eye. “Isn’t that kind of our thing?”

Aziraphale thought about Crowley’s words and then a grin spread across his face. “I guess that is, isn’t it?” Then he raised his eyebrows at the demon questioningly. “So, does that mean I should start writing invitations?”

Crowley grinned back at him, eyes crinkling with joy. “Better write Anathema’s first. Since she said she was expecting it,” They both laughed and hugged each other close.

_Celebrating the things that make life worth living_ , Aziraphale repeated in his head. Crowley was what made his life worth living, and if celebrating Crowley meant having a wedding, well, he really did have to get working on those invitations.


End file.
